Forgiveness
by crono23
Summary: With graduation approaching, Tess decides it's finally time to do something.


"Alright, class dismissed! Remember to study pages 356 to 359 of your chemistry books!"

Tess sighed silently to herself as she got up out of her seat and walked out of the classroom. Recently a bout of reflection caused her to focus less and less on the schoolwork she was meant to do, causing her grades to drop and make her already somber demeanor even worse.

There was a reason for this though. Lately she had been thinking of everything she had pulled in her freshmen year. All sorts of horrible things, ranging from simply stealing lunch money, to going as far as to send someone to the hospital. She regretted every single thing she had done back then, but one thing continued to slowly chip away at her.

While most of the school had already somewhat forgiven her, there were still two individuals that harbored grudges: Rachel and Jessica. The former wasn't quite as bad. While Rachel still liked to antagonize Tess, she was clearly beginning to warm up to her and respect her attempts at fixing what she had done.

Jessica on the other hand was nowhere near as forgiving. Unlike Rachel, Tess had directly messed with Jessica, almost completely ruining her social life and not feeling an ounce of guilt about it until it was too late. As a result, Jessica still hated Tess for what she had done, and barely acknowledged the good deeds she carried out as an attempt to mend relations between her and the school. After Lucy's birthday she had seemed to warm up ever so slightly, but she still harbored a very negative opinion of Tess.

 _I guess I can't expect everyone to forgive me..._ Thought Tess as she found herself in front of her locker. _But I feel I should say something..._

Upon depositing her books into her locker, Tess walked off down the hallway towards the front of the school, absentmindedly thinking about her predicament. _I really should apologize to her...she deserves to hear it...Even if she doesn't forgive me. Then again maybe I should give it a little more time...But graduation is coming up soon...I might not get another chance..._

As luck would have it, Tess's train of thought was soon interrupted by a glimpse of a very familiar face. At a junction between hallways Jessica appeared from the right, neither noticing or caring about her surroundings.

 _Alright Tess,_ she thought to herself. _You might never get another chance at this...go over and apologize to her..._

Yet despite her thoughts, she still found herself hesitating and refusing to walk forward. As much as she wanted to apologize to Jessica, she was fearful. Jessica had plenty of reasons to hate her, and a year had gone by with very few signs of her warming up. Even if Tess did manage to suck it up and apologize, there was no guarantee that Jessica would acknowledge it, or even listen to her at all.

 _Cmon Tess, it won't be that bad...She'll be willing to listen, and she'll definitely acknowledge you trying to apologize to her..._ With that, Tess swallowed hard and started attempting to swerve her way around the mass of students, hoping she wasn't too late.

Upon finally reaching the entrance of the school, Tess frantically looked around for Jessica. A few seconds of searching brought up nothing, but just as she begun to despair, she noticed a purple-hued cat near the edge of the square. Tess quickly realized it was Jessica and ran off in her direction.

Tess quickly managed to gain up on Jessica, but she suddenly found herself hesitating to make her presence known. She knew very well that Jessica's opinion of her was still very negative, and she didn't want to make things worse than they were. Unfortunately for Tess, Jessica's ears perked at the faint sound of her feet.

"You following me or something?". Tess jumped a bit as she heard those words and saw Jessica pause to look behind her. The look on her face already seemed quite annoyed, but it quickly soured as Jessica realized who was behind her. "Oh...it's _you_." Jessica turned back around. "Get out of my sight Tess, I'm not in the mood."

"Hey Jessica, wait!" Tess called. "I...I just want to talk."

Jessica paused and sighed. "About _what?_ There's really nothing _to_ talk about."

"Just...Just please listen to what I have to say."

A few seconds passed, until eventually Jessica turned around to face Tess. "Okay fine. What the hell do you want?"

Tess swallowed hard and stared Jessica in the eye, dreading the words she was about to say, but forced herself to say them anyway. "Jessica...I..I'm sorry..."

Several more seconds of silence passed before Jessica opened her mouth to speak. "Uhh...what?"

Tess cringed lightly. "I'm sorry..."

Jessica continued to stare at her rival, but her expression didn't change until finally she realized what Tess was talking about and her expression changed to surprise, and slight anger immediately after.

"Right...that..." Her face quickly soured. "...If you're really apologizing for what you did to me, I sure hope that's not all you're gonna say."

"No..." Said Tess as she hung her head in shame. "Jessica...I'm sorry for everything...Sorry for the way I treated you...how I treated your friends...and how I never thought to try and make it up to you until now...I've been a pretty horrible person, and...well..." Tess shifted her gaze to the ground, before sighing. "I've just never really regretted doing anything so much before..."

Jessica's face softened a bit as Tess poured her heart out to her. It was clear Tess firmly regretted the things she had done, yet Jessica was still hesitant. Though she seemed sincere, Jessica held her tongue, thinking hard about how to reply.

Eventually, Jessica looked away as well. "I...I can see you're sorry Tess, but..." Anger slowly returned to her face. "...Do you really think words are going to magically make me forgive you for the shit you pulled?"

Tess's face drooped a bit more. "No...I don't. I just wanted you to know I feel horrible about what I did to you..."

The two said nothing to each other and refused to make eye contact, thinking deeply about what had just happened. Eventually Tess broke the silence.

"Well...that's it I guess...I mean...I kinda wished we could've put this behind us, but..." Her voice trailed off." ...Whatever you want I guess." She finished meekly. With that Tess slowly started walking in the opposite direction.

Jessica stood watching Tess walk away until something clicked in her mind and she called out to her. "Tess, wait!"

Upon hearing those words, Tess stopped and looked over her shoulder back at Jessica. A somewhat forlorn look was on her face that wasn't there before. A small sigh escaped her lips before she looked Tess straight in the eye.

"Tess...I can see you're really sorry about it, but...it still hurts...what you did...I just don't know what to think..." Jessica's voice trailed off a bit as she stared down at the sidewalk.

"I know Jess...but...it would mean a lot to me if you could just give me another chance..."

Jessica looked up again and sighed. "I...I need to think about this, alright?"

Tess nodded slowly. "Go ahead."

With that, the two went their separate ways. Tess turned around and walked back the way she came, though noticeably droopier than before. Jessica watched somberly for a few seconds, before turning around and following her original path back home.

As Jessica laid in her bed that night, she found herself unable to sleep. Tess's apology kept running through her head and causing her to wonder what she should do. On one hand, it had been two years since Tess spread lies about her, and she definitely seemed to regret what she had done. On the other, Jessica still found herself hurt by what Tess had done to her, and Tess's apology only did so much to end that pain.

Sitting up in her bed, Jess covered her face with her hands and thought long and hard about what to would do next. _I can't really hold it against her forever...it's clear she deeply regrets what she did to me...I suppose maybe it's..._

She shook her head no. The pain Tess had caused refused to fade. It felt like reason enough for Jessica, but she still found herself unsatisfied. Annoyed, Jessica forced herself out of her bed and stumbled over to the window. After opening the window, Jessica kneeled and stared out the window, thinking hard about what to do.

A few minutes passed. Jessica continued staring. A few cars passed and lights flickered in the distance. Yet still Jessica found herself at a loss, until a single thought crossed her mind.

 _Maybe I'll feel better if I forgive her..._

Jessica sighed with annoyance. It seemed both unlikely and stupid. Similar to something that might be found in a low-quality movie. But the more she thought about it, the more it seemed to make sense.

Finally somewhat content, Jessica removed herself from the window and closed it, smiling a bit as she stared through the glass. _Alright Tess...I suppose I can give you another chance..._

Her mind made up, Jessica returned to her bed and pulled the still-warm covers over her body. Slowly she drifted off to sleep, far more content than before.

The following school day passed normally. Neither Jessica or Tess ran into each other throughout the school hours, but by the time it drew to a close for the day, both were eager to find each other and get it over with.

As Jessica entered the school foyer, she began to grow nervous. She hadn't seen Tess all day and she wasn't willing to wait another whole day to finally confront her. Fortunately as Jessica exited the building she noticed Tess near the edge of the square, sitting away from her, seemingly deep in thought.

 _This is it..._ Jessica swallowed hard and forced herself to slowly walk over to where Tess was waiting. Upon coming within a few feet of Tess, Jessica coughed lightly and waited for Tess to turn around.

"Hey." Said Tess flatly.

"Hey."

The two didn't say anything to each other for a few seconds, preferring instead to shuffle feet and stare down at the sidewalk. Eventually Jessica found the courage to break the silence.

"Tess...are you really honestly sorry for everything you did to me?"

The question caught Tess off guard, but she quickly answered. "Yeah. I am."

A tiny smile appeared on Jessica's face, that was all she needed to hear. "Then I guess I can forgive you..."

As soon as those words entered Tess's ears, her eyes snapped open and she stared blankly at Jessica. Wordlessly she slowly stood up, turned towards Jessica and gave a small step forward. Jessica began to grow nervous, but was quickly surprised as Tess lunged forward and hugged her.

"Thank you Jessica...thank you..."

While stunned from the sudden display of affection from Tess, Jessica managed another small smile as Tess eventually broke away from her. A few seconds of silence passed as the two former rivals smiled at each other, until eventually Tess held out her hand.

"Friends?"

Jessica stared for a second before eventually returning the handshake. "Sure."

* * *

 **Lo and behold: My very first BCB fanfic, revised and published for the world to see. Despite this being it's third revision, I still feel my less-experienced self's newbiness bleeding through. I will admit this is embarrassing to publish, but I figured I had to put it out there eventually.  
**

 **Higher quality stuff will come soon, rest assured.**


End file.
